Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Keerai Kootu | Spinach dal | Palak Dal | Palak Kootu

Keerai Kootu,an easy and healthy accompaniment made with any greens and dal.For this recipe, you can use whatever the greens you like, here today i have prepared this keerai kootu with spinach.This keerai kootu is almost similar to the accompaniment served in restaurant along with meals.If you had meals in any restaurant at Tamilnadu,you might knew what i'm talking about.I'm not big fan of any accompaniment that served with meals in restaurants,for that fact any meals at all.Few few years ago, when we were travelling from Bangalore to Tirunelveli, we stopped for lunch at the restaurant(forgot the name) nearby Thirumangalam toll gate at around 3 PM, we both were extremely hungry,so i too ordered meals on that day, normally i stick with tiffin items in restaurant and on that day,i was glad that i ordered meals,it was so good and particularly i liked this keerai kootu from their full meals.Later i tried this keerai kootu with what i had remembered from that day and it turned out super delicious and it became a staple accompaniment in our home.Recently i noticed that i didn't post about this, so few days before i had tried with spinach for first time and we like it so much and now i'm here with the post.

In a pressure cooker,add the washed moong dal , asafoedita powder & water . Then in the small bowl, add chana dal with 1/4 cup of water and place it in the pressure cooker and cook it for three whistle.Once the pressure is automatically released from the pressure cooker, open it & keep it aside until use. Chop the onions and tomato into small pieces and roughly chop the spinach.Heat a kadai with oil.Add the onions and saute till it transparent,then add the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes are soft.Then add the spinach and saute till it shrinks, then add the spices (turmeric & red chili powder) & salt.Mash the moong dal with laddle and add into the spinach, then add the chana dal.Mix it well, if needed add water and bring to boil for few minutes.In the meantime, temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" & add into the spinach dal and switch off the flame.That's it , Keerai Kootu is ready to serve.

Notes:

Pressure cooking both the dal together works better for me, by the time, moong dal is mashed, the chana was softly cooked yet retain its shape,the way i liked it.

Instead of pressure cooking chana dal, you can soak it for 1/2 hr and then cook it in kadai for 10 mins before adding spinach.

If you wish, add few chopped garlic along with onions,sometimes i do and sometimes i don't.